You should always maintain a global perspective. Ned Beatty, playing a corporate CEO in the movie Network, put it aptly:

“There are no nations. There are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs. There are no third worlds. There is no West. There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multi-variate, multi-national dominion of dollars.”

Stay focused on the long game and the big picture. This spring, we’re witnessing green shoots of global economic growth. The bull case for equity markets is getting stronger. Don’t get rattled by the daily news headlines. Don’t succumb to parochial thinking. There is only one holistic system.

China’s increasing antagonism toward America? That didn’t stop Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) CEO Tim Cook from visiting China this week to heap glowing praise on that country’s authoritarians. As head of the world’s largest public company, Cook stressed Apple’s “symbiotic” ties with the world’s second-largest economy.

The Russia-Ukraine war? The conflict is heinous, yes, but it has spawned a multi-year boom in the global aerospace/defense industry. What’s more, mega-cap infrastructure firms already are vying for the lucrative task of rebuilding Ukraine once the war inevitably ends. Ukraine is poised to become the world’s biggest construction site.

The latest analyst consensus is that the global economy will post year-over-year growth of 2.3% in 2023. That’s not a gangbuster number, but neither does it represent a recession.

The NASDAQ 100 is in a new bull market. The S&P 500 currently hovers above its 200-day moving average. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) sits below 19. Influential analyst Ed Yardeni predicted Thursday that the S&P 500 could end 2023 at least 14% higher.

Key inflation gauge cools further…

And we just got great news on the inflation front. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis on Friday released the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index for February.

The PCE declined to 5.0% on a yearly basis in February from 5.3% in January. This reading came in lower than the market expectation of 5.3%.

The annual core PCE edged lower to 4.6% from 4.7% in the same period, compared to analysts’ forecast of 4.7%. On a monthly basis, both headline and core PCE rose 0.3%.

The upshot: On a year-over-year basis, both headline and core PCE continue to trend lower (see chart).

The PCE is the Fed’s preferred inflation measure because it covers a much broader range of spending than the consumer price index (CPI), which only reflects out-of-pocket spending.

Inflation is coming down in the U.S. and around the world, especially in Europe. Consumer prices in the eurozone declined in March to 6.9% on an annual basis from the 8.5% recorded in February, according to data released Friday by the European Union’s statistics agency, Eurostat. Inflation in the eurozone has dropped to its lowest level in a year since peaking at 10.6% in October.

What’s more, emerging markets are set for a rebound this year, after a brutal 2022. The Asia-Pacific region should lead the way, now that global inflation is falling and China’s draconian COVID lockdown policies have been lifted.

According to projections released last month by the International Monetary Fund, China’s economy is on track to expand by 5.2% this year.

Read This Story: Birth Pangs of a New Bull?

The latest PCE numbers in the U.S. should give the Fed greater confidence in easing back on rate hikes. The main U.S. stock market indices closed sharply higher Friday, as follows:

• DJIA: +1.26%
• S&P 500: +1.44%
• NASDAQ: +1.74%
• Russell 2000: +1.93%

The NASDAQ has rallied more than 11% over the last three weeks, as technology stocks benefit from the pullback in interest rates. The real estate and consumer discretionary sectors also have shown momentum. We’re starting to see an upbeat cyclical undertone to the stock market’s movement. The Fed is likely to pause its rate hikes later this year, and when it does, we’ll see the next leg up in stocks.

PS: Maybe you’re still spooked by market volatility. Global risks haven’t disappeared; they never do. But there’s a way to profit from uncertainty…and my colleague Jim Pearce can show you how.

Jim Pearce is chief investment strategist of our premium trading services Personal Finance, PF Pro, and Mayhem Trader.

Through painstaking analysis, Jim has pinpointed one overlooked precious metal that could offer protection and massive profits, come hell or high water. Click here for details.

John Persinos is the editorial director of Investing Daily.

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